ITGSS Certified DevOps Engineer Practice Test

What method does Kubernetes use for access control decisions?

1. User roles

2. Usernames

3. User groups

4. User permissions

The correct answer is: Usernames

Kubernetes primarily utilizes Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for managing permissions and access decisions. This system is centered around the concept of roles, which associate a set of permissions with specific users or groups. In this context, while usernames may be a component in the access process, the actual control mechanism operates based on roles associated with abstractions like ServiceAccounts, Roles, and ClusterRoles. Usernames are utilized as identifiers for users, and through RBAC, these users are granted roles that determine what actions they can perform within the cluster. However, the main framework for making access control decisions is based on the roles assigned to these usernames, which encapsulate the actual permissions rather than the usernames themselves. Roles and role bindings create these control policies and are essential in how Kubernetes manages access based on user identities. Therefore, the focus on usernames as the definitive means of access control is incomplete, as it neglects the underlying role-based structure responsible for enforcing these permissions.